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3C Interactive Discusses RCS and its Brand and Consumer Benefits

What are some of the biggest pitfalls of SMS and how does RCS solve these?Although SMS boasts a 98% open rate, it has it's limiations—including a constrained message size, lack of branding, limited rich media support and a text-only interface. RCS fills the gap by combining the richness of the app experience with the timeliness and ubquitity of SMS messaging. With features such as suggested replies and action, consumers can quickly and easily respond, allowing for quick action and speedy transactions. By bringing these rich interactions to the native messaging client on a consumer’s phone, RCS enables brands to transform the conversation with their customers and enhance the experience with the brand.

Is the usage of RCS industry dependent or does its usages apply to all industries? Have you seen one industry in particular more effected by mobile technology than others?Brands and consumers continue to drive towards conversational commerce - frictionless, personalized engagements for customers that lead to valuable transactions for the brands. Mobile is at the center of making these connections—making the use cases span across almost every vertical from purchasing airline tickets, to confirming a reservation, downloading coupons, signing up for a loyalty program or shopping for a new outfit. Consumers have come to expect meaningful interactions with brands regardless of the industry that brand serves.

Why is there a disconnect/hesitation between brands “planning to use,” mobile technologies and those who already do? Where is the delay stemming from?The top roadblocks we hear from brands are lack of IT resources and a fear of not knowing where to start.Our advice to brands is start small and build from there. Rather than trying to build a net new experience, what are you already doing today that can be enhanced through new technologies such as RCS? The same goes for IT resources. Very often the same APIs and integrations that are already in use for apps and websites can be used to build RCS experiences as well.

It seems like the digital landscape is trending more towards a conversational approach with consumers. Is this a result of shifting consumers’ preferences or is it the technology that is guiding the shifts?It's really a combination of both. With text messaging, consumers have become very comfortable with texting their friends and family, so a natural progression of this is to have that type of conversation with their favorite brands. With the rise of videos, gifs and photos, consumers have also come to expect those rich media experiences from brands as well. RCS enablesbrands to satisfy both of these consumer expectations.

Where does 3C see the RCS platform trending towards in the next five years?As natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning technology matures and as RCS becomes more widespread with increasing carrier rollouts, this will allow for even more personalized conversations between brands and consumers to take place over RCS. It will provide a seamless, end-to-end experience from discovery to transaction—all within the messaging stream. The possiblities are endless!